Secretary of Energy Richardson (1998 - 2001) visiting the Joint Genome Institute. The U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), located in Walnut Creek, California, was created in 1997 to unite the expertise and resources in genome mapping, DNA sequencing, technology development, and information sciences. The JGI is a collaboration of LLNL, LBNL, AND LANL. At the production sequencing facility employees of the three institutions are working together to sequence human chromosomes 5. 16, and 19 for the worldwide Human Genome Project. Sequencing is the process of hunting genes. Each of our 100,00 genes is composed of the four bases, called base pairs. Scientists ultimately want to decode the entire sequence of DNA bases, in order to improve medicine, health care, and other areas of biological science. No photographer credited, undated.